Tuesday, November 18, 2008

For Freedom Christ has set you Free

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1 (ESV)

Christ has set us free for freedom, for freedom. In other words you are free! So don’t submit to a yoke of slavery. There are two types of spiritual slavery, yet they both have the same master. The one is a slavery to sin, which Jesus talks about : “Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. [35] The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.” (John 8:34-35 (ESV) It is easy to fall into this slavery. We aren’t to use our freedom in Christ to become slaves to sin. Yet from the slavery to sin, Christ is always setting us free with the forgiveness of sins. He loosens those bonds.
But there is a slavery that can be even worse. It is worse because it blinds us to the forgiveness of sins. This is the slavery to the law from which Christ set us free. Christians are notorious for being bound by the law. It is a bit oxymoronic to say that. As Christians are by definition those who have been set free by Christ. However, what I mean here is there are many people who confess Christ, but they don’t see Him as the forgiver of sins. They see him as an example to follow. They have the gospel confused with religious principles and rules for a holier living. As far as rules go, there wasn’t anything wrong with the ones God drew up in the Old Testament. We didn’t need Christ to come and give us rules. We needed to have him come and forgive us for breaking the rules. But people get so caught up in the law, it becomes next to impossible to tell them about forgiveness. They think forgiveness was a one time thing. Now they better live the holy life.
Call me a Cretan, but I would put off forgiveness for a long time if I thought it was a one time thing. Forgiveness is an everyday thing, an every hour thing, an every minute thing. You get the picture. Outside of forgiveness we do nothing right. This is why Luther urges us to return to our baptism daily in repentance. We always have something that needs be forgiven. Living the Christian life is not living the perfect life, It is living the forgiven life. Living the forgiven life we live a free life, a life free from sin, and free from the law, free from the dominion of the devil, the world and our sinful nature.
Ask yourself what did God die for? Was it so he could give us new rules? Or was it to forgive you your sins? It was to forgive you your sins. There was no need for new rules.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Every Christian in the world needs to read this post, and read it often.

Bingo!

Why did Christ die for us?

To set us free!!!!

(read in the voice of an super-Evangelical)..."Well then...what do I have to do?"

Sheesh...